Rail-joint- for tracks and e



PATENTED JAN. 5, 1904.

A W. WEISS.

RAIL JOINT FOR TRACKS AND ESPECIALLY FOR FIELDRAILWAYS.

APPLIGATION FILED JULY 24. 1-903.

' a SHEETS-SHEET 1.

N0 MODEL:

m: upams vETzas co PHcTo-uma. wAsm No. 748,826. I PATENTED JAN. 5,,19043 W. WEISS. RAIL JOINT FOR TRACKS AND ESPECIALLY FOR FIELD RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 24, 1903.

N0 MODEL. 3 SHBETS-SHBET 2- No; 748,826. PATENTED JAN. 5, 1904.

W. WEISS, RAIL JOINT FOR TRACKS AND ESPECIALLY FOR FIELD RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY Z, 1903. 7 K0 MODEL. 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- UNITED STATES Patented January 5; 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.-

RAIL-JOINT FOR TRACKS AND ESPECIALLY FOR FIELD-RAILWAYS SPEGIFIGATIONforming part of Letters Patent No. 748,826, dated January 5, 1904.

Application filed July 2451903. Serial No. 166,792. (No model.)

tain ed at the same height atthe point of j unc- To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I,WILHE LM WEISS, super intendent engineer, a subject of the German Emperor, and a resident of 27Rheinallee, Godesberg-on-the-Rhine, in the Empire of Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail-Joints for Tracks and Especially for Field-Railways, of which the following is a specification. a

My invention relates to a rail-joint or connection for tracks and especially for fieldrailways.

As compared with the joints generally employed (having fish-plates and bolts) this invention is intended to increase the weightcarrying capacity of thelengths of rail, to counteract their tendency to sink into the road-bed,to prevent any parts or attach ments of the rails working loose and getting lost, and, further, to maintain the upper edges of the rails, those on which the wheelsrun, at a constant level and so facilitate the passage I over the joints of the lengths of rails by oh viating the necessity of using extra power in order to get over the elevation that is formed when one length of rail is depressed at the point of junction. To attain these objects, according to the present invention the junctions of the lengths of rail with one another are formed, not by means of fish-plates and bolts or other fa'stenings, but by bringing the end sleepers of the sections directly into connection with one another,causing them to in terlock in such a manner that each supports the other. In this way a very large bearingsurface upon the road-bed is secured, and thus any sinking, even into the softest bed, is prevented. Further, by this mutual connection of the end sleepers the carryingcapacity of the sections at their junctions is verycousiderably increased, being approximately doubled. The rail lengths have no parts that can work loose, consequently the laying and joining up of these issimplified. The procoss of connecting up and of detaching the sec- Linus on the track is very simple and can be carried out withoutany disturbance of the road. Again, as the end sleepers thus conuected take up the pressure of the wheels in common and prevent any change in the relative positions of the sections the traveling edges of the two lengths of rail are maintion. Notwithstanding the absence of any separate fasteniugs the two sections of rail cannot come apart when a load is passing over them, for the interlocking of the end sleepers is secured both up and down and in the lengthwise direction of the rails. Any lateral displacement of the sections of rail is prevented by having one of the two junctionsleepers provided with a notch to take in the bottom flanges of both the meeting sets of rails, thus forcing the rails always to present the same frontto one another. The weights remain the same as when the sections are united by fish-plates and bolts.

In the drawings the nature of the invention is made clear by showing a series of forms in which it may be carried into effect.

Figure 1 is a section through the middle of one form of the rail-joint. Fig. 2 is a plan view of a straight rail length, showing the two end sleepersfor the arrangement shown in Fig. 1. Figs. 3 to 7 are sections of further forms of the joint. Figs 8 and 9 are section and'plan views of another form. Fig. 10 is a section ofa further form of the joint.

In Fig. 1, a and bare the rails of two sections of track, attached to the two end sleepers c and clbyclamps c. On the one side the sleepers have the usualobliqne profilef, but

the adjoiningfaces are bent into the hooks g and h, while the hook h on the end sleeper d has a notch running along the breadth between the bottom flanges of the rails and under the flanges themselves, so that outside the rails the hook ends mclutch the rails on the outside, when the two sleepers interlock, as shown'in Fig. 1. In this position the two sleepers support each other at the junction, so that pressure from above cannot alter their relative positions, and the same holds against any pull in a lengthwise direction; further,

the parts a: insure that the rails of the. two

sections are held opposite one another. A plan View of a section of track is shown in Fig 2. It is of advantage that each section should have a narrow middle sleeper i, of the ordinary form, in addition tothe two end sleepers c and d. To make the connection, it is sufficient to place the hook it of the section to be laid rather obliquely on the hook g ofthe section already laid.

In that form of the connection shown in section in Fig. 3 the hook h of the sleeper dis exactly as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and consequently it also shows the notch between the end pieces :20, that clutch the bottom flanges of the rails don the outside. On the other hand, the hook g shows a difference in shape. Its lower portion q is not bent upward at the edge, but is kept plain and then bent downward. There is also an additional upper hook z bent downward. This hook z is as broad as the space between the flanges of the rails, and under it the hook it of the sleeper d catches when the section comprising the rails b is laid down in the fashion already described, being placed obliquely upon the other. When the sleeperp is being rolled into shape," it is given a profile in which the upper hook z is not bent downward, as that would make the rolling process difficult. This hook is left straight and receives its final shape afterward.

In Figs. 4 to 7 are shown sections of forms of the connection corresponding to the section in Fig. l, but with differences in the forms of the hooks g and h. These may easily be understood without further description, and they work in a similar fashion to the hooks in Fig. 1.

In the forms shown in Figs. 8, 9, and 10 the connection is made by sleeper-plates in the space between the rails. In Figs. 8 and 9 the sleeper d has a slit la, in which the hook g of the sleeper c clutches, this hook having a corresponding ofiset, while the hook it runs under the whole width of the sleeper. The rails lie in corresponding grooves of the upper edge 'y of the hookg. In the form shown in Fig. 10 bot-h sleepers c and d have slits Z opposite each other, and the hooks g and h of the two sleepers c and d catch in these slits Z. Here also the rails lie in corresponding grooves of the upper sides of the hooks g and h.

What I claim is-- l.- In a rail-joint for tracks and especially for field-railways, the combination of sections consisting of rails and sleepers fastened together, the edges of the end sleepers of the sections being bent into hooks adapted to catch in each other, substantially as specified and shown in the drawings.

2. In a rail-joint for tracks and especially for field-railways, the combination of sections consisting of rails and sleepers fastened together, the edges of the end sleepers of the sections being bent into hooks adapted to catch in each other and having upwardly-extended parts arranged outside the bottom flanges of the rails, substantially as specified and shown in the drawings.

3. In a rail-joint for tracks and especially for field-railways, the combination of sections consisting of rails and sleepers fastened together, the edges of the end sleepers of the sections being bent into hooks catching in each other and having upwardly-extended parts arranged outside the bottom flanges of the rails and an additional upper downwardbent hook arranged on the hooked edge of one end sleeper ofthe sections, substantially as specified and shown in the drawings.

4. In a rail-joint for tracks and especially for field-railways, the combination of sections consisting of rails and sleepers fastened together, the edge of one end sleeper of the sections being bent into a hook adapted to catch in a slit, provided in the other end sleeper of the sections, substantially as specified and shown in the drawings.

5. In a rail-joint for tracks and especially for field-railways, the combination of sections consisting of rails and sleepers fastened together, the end sleepers of the sections having slits and the edges of the end sleepers of the sections being bent into hooks adapted to catch in the said slits, substantially as specified and shown in the drawings.

Signed at Cologne, Germany, this 6th day of July, 1903.

WILHELM WEISS.

Witnesses:

W. FRHRR v. LYNOKER, CARL SCHMITT. 

